2014 UT football season

AUSTIN — Charlie Strong’s breakthrough recruiting class finally added the one ingredient it had been missing — a quarterback.

Kai Locksley, a 6-4, 185-pound Baltimore athlete rated by national recruiting services as a four-star prospect, announced Monday on Twitter that he has switched his commitment from Florida State to Texas. The Longhorns had been recruiting him especially hard over the past week after former commitment Zach Gentry flipped to Michigan and Kyler Murray announced he was sticking with Texas A&M.

If he signs on Wednesday, Locksley will become on the third scholarship quarterback on UT’s roster, joining junior Tyrone Swoopes and redshirt freshman Jerrod Heard.

As of Monday night, 247Sports, Rivals and ESPN ranked the Longhorns’ haul as the No. 9 class in the country.

]]>http://blog.chron.com/sportsupdate/2015/02/ut-football-longhorns-land-their-quarterback/feed/0Attorneys for Oklahoma State, UT’s Wickline spar in courthttp://blog.chron.com/sportsupdate/2014/12/attorneys-for-oklahoma-state-uts-wickline-spar-in-court/
http://blog.chron.com/sportsupdate/2014/12/attorneys-for-oklahoma-state-uts-wickline-spar-in-court/#commentsThu, 18 Dec 2014 23:17:39 +0000http://blog.mysanantonio.com/longhorns/?p=2365AUSTIN — In Travis County district court on Thursday, articles from newspaper sports sections were submitted as evidence. Attorneys questioned the integrity of rival athletic departments, spoke to a judge about football play-calling duties, and there even was a reference to how an assistant coach had “performed miracles” with an offensive line.

In the end, nothing was decided in the ongoing legal battle between Texas offensive coordinator Joe Wickline and his former employer, Oklahoma State. But Thursday’s hearing did provide a preview of what to expect if one of the most fascinating court cases in college football ever goes to trial.

District judge Amy Clark Meachum said she will wait until January to rule on whether Wickline’s lawsuit against OSU and its athletic director, Mike Holder, should be dismissed. Earlier on Thursday, a judge in Oklahoma denied Wickline’s request to have OSU’s suit against him thrown out.

Both lawsuits stem from OSU’s claim that Wickline — who coached the Cowboys’ offensive line from 2005-’13 — owes his former school $593,487, which was the buyout specified in his contract. His deal at OSU called for that buyout to be waived if he left for a job as offensive coordinator “with play-calling duties.”

University of Texas offensive coordinator/offensive line coach Joe Wickline is at the center of a lawsuit stemming from his decision to leave Oklahoma State for the Longhorns. (Sue Ogrocki / Associated Press)

Wickline’s official title at UT is offensive coordinator, and head coach Charlie Strong said he is involved in play-calling, although assistant head coach for offense Shawn Watson has the final say.

Thursday’s hearing wasn’t about those details, however. OSU attorney Sean Breen argued that a forum selection clause in Wickline’s OSU contract meant Wickline shouldn’t be allowed to file a related suit outside of Payne County, Oklahoma. David Beck, Wickline’s attorney, said the suit should be allowed because it claims OSU and Holder are interfering with Wickline’s UT contract.

In making his motion to the judge, Breen fired a shot at UT for allowing the legal fight to happen in the first place.

Beck countered by saying OSU crossed the line by sending repeated letters to Wickline, and by publicly accusing UT and Wickline of being dishonest about his job description.

“At some point, we’re going to have to fight over what (OSU has) done and how they did it,” Beck said.

Will that fight include testimony from coaches or players about who’s calling plays during UT football games? Both Beck and Breen said that’s a possibility. But as Beck pointed out, Wickline doesn’t need to prove he’s UT’s sole play-caller.

“(The OSU contract) doesn’t say he has to call all the plays,” Beck said. “My sense is that play-calling is a team effort.”

One fact not in dispute is that Wickline is valued as an assistant coach. In explaining to Meachum why such a fuss is being made over a man who coaches the offensive line, Breen said, “Some believe he performed miracles here at UT this fall.”

After the hearing, Breen reiterated that he believes UT — which is not named in either suit — should pay the buyout.

“If an institution wants to hire a really good coach like Joe Wickline, they’ll pay for it,” Breen said. “It’s befuddling that the University of Texas, with all its resources, wouldn’t just do that.”

The X Games are going from the glitz of Los Angeles to deep in the heart of Texas.

Athletes with skateboards and motorcycles will be competing in the Texas capital after ESPN announced Wednesday that Austin will be the next North American host city for the X Games.

“Austin over the last several years has really become synonymous with supporting big events,” said Scott Guglielmino, senior vice president, ESPN programming and X Games. “The music scene is fantastic. The night life is fantastic and definitely a young, active town.”

Austin also has the new Circuit of the Americas sports and entertainment complex, which will be the primary site for X Games Austin. The 1,500-acre complex opened in November by hosting the Formula One U.S. Grand Prix and held a MotoGP motorcycle race in April.

Austin was selected over three other finalists: Chicago, Detroit and Charlotte, N.C. There were initially 13 qualified bids for the Olympic-style selection process, with Austin picked to host for four years starting next May 15-18.

“X Games is a great action sports competition and is an ideal fit for the city of Austin, which has a tremendous fitness orientation, a tremendous action sports community,” said Steve Sexton, president of Circuit of the Americas.

Sexton said 16-18 X Games athletes live in Austin and that a “couple of thousand people” showed up at the State Capitol to watch an exhibition when Austin was announced as one of the four finalists earlier this year.

The X Games will wrap up an 11-year run in Los Angeles with this summer’s event Aug. 1-4.

“L.A. clearly, Southern California, it’s a special home when it comes to action sports and that whole culture, no question about it,” Guglielmino said. “But we felt like it was time to move the X Games to a new venue, a new city. We leave Los Angeles with a lot of great memories, certainly. … We leave after quite a good and prosperous stay, but definitely looking forward to getting to Austin and really growing out the event.”

Aspen, Colo., has been the host of the winter X Games since 2002, but its contract expires after next year’s event. Bidding to host winter competition in the United States just ended, with the next site likely to be picked in 2014.

Sexton expects at least 100,000 spectators for the four days of competition.

“The ability to host the X Games fits into our overall strategy, to have a multidimensional entertainment and sports destination,” Sexton said. “We’re more than motor sports. The X Games is kind of one of the first of many steps in the process.”